US national security experts warn Trump is behaving more and more like a 'controlled spy'

Johnnie Parks
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19 July, 2018, 17:27

As his rare retraction - Trump is not known to own up mistakes - became the new narrative, the president added a new wrinkle in an unscripted interaction with reporters.

Speaking later Wednesday, Sanders told reporters that Trump was saying no to answering questions, not to whether Russian Federation is still targeting the U.S. She said the administration is working to make sure Russian Federation doesn't meddle in the 2018 midterm elections. "So certainly as the leader of a country you would have to hold him responsible, yes", Trump told CBS News in an interview.

"We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy", Coats wrote in a statement released after Trump appeared to side with Putin, rather than USA intelligence agencies, on who was to blame for the election interference.

His reservations, 18 months into his presidency and standing next to Putin on foreign soil, prompted blistering criticism at home, including from prominent fellow Republicans.

"In a key sentence in my remarks, I said the word "would" instead of 'wouldn't, '" Trump said.

In this June 21, 2017, file photo, former FBI Director Robert Mueller, the special counsel probing Russian interference in the 2016 election, departs Capitol Hill following a closed door meeting in Washington.

But after the briefing, Trump issued a statement spreading the blame among "Russia, China and other countries, outside groups and countries". But while the president has stopped short of saying whether he believes Putin did, in fact, direct Russian efforts, he did say that he holds Putin responsible.

On the Senate floor Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called on Republicans to force Trump into releasing the returns. The one-on-one meeting between Putin and Trump lasted more than two hours, later delegation members joined the presidents for a working lunch. Schumer said. "Well, that's why his tax returns would be so important. That was important before, but it's so much more important after Helsinki now". But in the Trump administration, Coats could be walking into a minefield, given the president's track record of firing officials who don't toe his line.

"He just said it's not Russia", Trump said. Problem is, when you complain you just give them more publicity. "A more ominous explanation might be that his redundantly demonstrated incompetence as a businessman tumbled him into unsavory financial dependencies on Russians". -Russian relations are "in some ways worse than during the Cold War", but that his meeting with Trump on Monday allowed them to start on "the path to positive change". "That was a big factor", Trump said. However, an IRS audit does not preclude someone from making their returns public.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders later clarified that the president had said "No" to taking questions, and not the one about continued Russian interference.

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